Women's Soccer Inches Closer to .500 With 5-1 Win Over Robert Morris

10/27/2001

Co-Captains Rachel Brown and Keeley Tobler earned their first career points in the victory.

PITTSBURGH-Two early goals got the Pittsburgh women's soccer team jumpstarted and on its way to a 5-1 win over Robert Morris at Founders Field on Friday evening.

Just 5:36 into the game, the Panthers got on the board on a goal by senior Cande Ruiz-Bradbury (Oxnard, Calif./Santa Clara). Ruiz-Bradbury received a pass from fellow senior Andrea Graybill (Spring Grove, Pa./Spring Grove), deked Robert Morris goalkeeper Shana Berardi and scored her third goal of the season and the 18th of her career.

The Panthers struck again 27 seconds later when leading scorer Annette Agredano (Tucson, Ariz./Tucson High Magnet) beat Berardi into the left corner of the net. Kimberly Sturk (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) and Jacqueline Fix (Center, Pa./Center) recorded assists on the Agredano goal.

Just before the end of the first half, senior Melissa Smith (Lakewood, Colo./Bear Creek) notched her first goal of the season on a scramble off a rebound. Katrina Shibata (Lakewood, Calif./Mayfair) fed the ball over to Laura Marsh (Stroudsburg, Pa./Stroudsburg), whose shot caromed off of Berardi and to Smith, who put the ball in the back of the net with 34 seconds remaining in the first frame.

Agredano got her second goal and ninth of the season at the 60:44 mark when she blasted the ball from seven yards out past Berardi. On the goal, goalkeeper Rachel Brown (Burnley, England/St. Christopher's/Alabama) picked up an assist when her clearing kick got past a Robert Morris defender and Agredano broke in alone on the Robert Morris goal.

The Colonials broke the Panther shutout just 1:24 later on a goal by Lauren Meyer. Katie Dugan, Robert Morris' leading scorer, got her 30th point of the year on an assist.

Pittsburgh scored again 29 seconds later on a goal by fifth-year senior Keeley Tobler (Leesburg, Va./Loudoun County). It was Tobler's first goal of her career and she scored it on a shot from eight yards out at the top of the goal area. Sturk assisted on the goal, the seventh helper of her career which tied her for third on the Panthers' all-time list.

Brown made two saves before giving way to Gretchen Ross (Glenshaw, Pa./Shaler Area/James Madison). Ross made two saves of her own in just 12:31 of play. Berardi had 14 saves in the loss for the Colonials.

Pittsburgh outshot Robert Morris, 26-8, including a 14-2 margin in the first half. Agredano led the Panthers with seven shots, while Shibata, Ruiz-Bradbury and Tobler had three apiece.

The Panthers will close out the 2001 season when they host No. 4 Penn State at Founders Field on Sunday afternoon. Game time is noon and the seniors will be recognized before the game begins.

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